Union chief leads from the front line

By Michael Paterson

12:01AM GMT 16 Nov 2002

During the 48 hours of the firemen's strike, Andy Gilchrist, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, travelled the length and breadth of the country in a manner reminiscent of Tony Blair on the campaign trail.

Sleeping about six hours over the two nights, he relied mainly on fast food and airline meals as he made three flights and travelled more than 1,000 miles across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The 41-year-old led 100 strikers out of the headquarters of the London Fire Brigade's headquarters in Lambeth when the first strike in 25 years began at 6pm on Wednesday, after rallying them inside to noisy applause.

Swamped by journalists and cameramen, the union leader blamed the Government and local authority employers for the walkout.

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He then caught the shuttle with two union officials and a press officer to Edinburgh, where he stayed overnight in a £49.95-a-night Travelodge.

They had originally booked into the luxurious Balmoral hotel - almost four times as expensive - but downgraded after news leaked out.

Before bedtime, he appeared on the Scottish Newsnight. Over breakfast on Friday morning he digested many column inches of condemnation in newspapers and mulled over the news of the death of a pensioner in a house fire close to a fire station that had shut hours before.

After fielding a call from an increasingly-heated Deputy Prime Minister on his mobile while rushing down the street, he then addressed a rally of more than 500 strikers in the city's Assembly Rooms for an hour.

Then he visited a picket line in Edinburgh, drove to another in Glasgow, addressed a further 1,000 strikers and caught a flight to Belfast.

At a rally in Transport House, in the city centre, he said he was proud to represent the men who had crossed picket lines to answer emergency calls.

Foghorns and whistles sounded their approval.

After a little more sleep, he was up early yesterday and heard the news that a mother and her three children had been killed overnight in a fire in the hamlet of Sleight, near Devizes in Wiltshire.

Catching a breakfast-time flight to Bristol, Mr Gilchrist went to a rally where he told several hundred firemen that their pay claim was fair.

"You should hold your heads up and be proud of that claim," he said. More roars of approval and air horns greeted him.

Next he went to Cardiff for a similar rally. He was also due at a fire station near his home in Surrey.

After the strike ended at 6pm, he was to attend a benefit concert for the strikers.